


Let Sleeping Dogs Lay

by LastHope



Category: Durarara!!
Genre: Dogs, Established Relationship, F/M, Living Together, Post-Ketsu, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-04
Updated: 2017-01-04
Packaged: 2018-09-14 20:53:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9202811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LastHope/pseuds/LastHope
Summary: "We're not getting a dog!"An out of character outburst from his girlfriend leaves Aoba wondering why, exactly, Kururi is so against getting a dog.





	

Truth be told, Aoba had never expected this to be a problem. Almost four years of serious dating, and him and Kururi had had very few major fights. If any, really, because all the ones that Aoba could admittedly think of had had Mairu at the apex, not Kururi.

“I said no!” Kururi reiterated, the snap completely out of character for what Aoba was used to from his girlfriend.

This entire conversation, really, was out of character for Kururi. Soft and mild-mannered as she was, this kind of behavior wasn’t something Aoba was used to, though he was handling it as best he could.

“I just asked _why_ , Kuru, it’s not like I’m -” The sound of the door slamming shut interrupted Aoba, and he finished with an aggravated sigh, “-trying to force the issue.”

“Jeez,” He said aloud to the empty apartment, speaking to no one in particular, “It’s just a _dog._ ” Grabbing his jacket and his phone, Aoba slipped on his shoes and went after his girlfriend.

* * *

_[1:43 pm to Kuru] Kururi, where are you?_

_[1:48 pm to Kuru] Running away isn’t going to solve anything, just talk to me!_

_[2:00 pm to Kuru] Taking after your brother, now are we? Remember how well that turned out for him?_

_[2:02 pm to Kuru] Fuck, that was out of line. Sorry Kururi._

_[2:03 pm from Mairu] Go die!_

* * *

The catalyst for everything, as dumb and ironic as it was, was a fire at his family home. No one had been home, but the house was unlivable after the fires had been put out. 

Well, okay, someone _had_ been home, if one was being technical; the family dog, an Akita Inu named Kazu. She was just fine, unharmed by the fire, but Kazu was what posed the problem. Because Aoba and Izumii had moved out (and okay, Izumii being ‘moved out’ translated more to ‘in jail again’ than anything), their parents didn’t see the point of a new big family home. For them, it was easier to move into an apartment complex than trying to find a new home in the city. 

Of course, just as luck would have it, his parents new apartment complex didn’t permit pets - and, his mother told Aoba, even if it did, they didn’t want to have poor Kazu cooped so far away from a park where she could run around. They had to get rid of the Akita, but his mom wanted Kazu to stay in the family. For his mom, the obvious choice meant Aoba and Kururi - their apartment allowed pets, and it was close to a park for Kazu to run around in.

Aoba had always had lukewarm feelings about Kazu - he didn’t exactly hate her, didn’t exactly like her. Regardless, Aoba knew his mother was going to sucker them into adopting Kazu, but he still put off the decision for a short time by saying he had to talk it over with Kururi.

His initial belief had been that Kururi would be as lukewarm as him, maybe agreeing, maybe not - who knew. Either way, Aoba had been expecting a normal conversation with his girlfriend, not the sharp immediate shutout of “ _We’re not getting a dog.”_  that came the instant he made the suggestion.

All Aoba had wanted was to know why Kururi was so against having a dog, but apparently, pressing the issue had made more problems than it solved.

And he didn’t really help himself by sticking his foot in his mouth with his comment about Izaya. Five years had passed since that night, and still no one had seen or heard from the once-Info Broker, not even his own sisters. Though neither of them would admit it, they were sensitive about the subject and didn’t like anyone bringing the subject up. Aoba knew that Mairu kept the old chat room up in case one day “ _Kanra”_  or “ _Chrome”_  popped up, and that they both were convinced that Izaya would return one day.

After receiving the text from Mairu, Aoba stopped looking for Kururi. It was obvious that his girlfriend was with her sister, and judging from Mairu’s text to him, Aoba was positive any attempts at seeing his girlfriend would be thwarted. It was better to just wait it out.

He headed back to their apartment. Waited the night away, for Kururi to come back.

She didn’t - not that night anyways. As a result, Aoba spent the night on the couch. Sure, he could have slept in the bed, but it didn’t feel right with Kururi gone, as mad as she was at him. Sleeping on the couch was better; the punishment he would have gotten if hadn’t stuck his foot in his mouth like he had.

Two days later - two _long_ days later, Kururi came back, with Mairu leading the way.

“So!” Mairu greeted boisterously, one hand pushing the door open, the other held tight around Kururi’s. “You have a dog that needs a home, huh Aoba-kun?”

And like that, the issue was resolved. They made a deal - Mairu would take Kazu, give her a home at her apartment. At any time, if Kururi happened to change her mind, Kazu would come live with the couple.

Aoba agreed, and him and Mairu set up a day for the following week so she could meet and pick up Kazu.

That was that, Aoba thought, before later that night Kururi brought the initial argument back up.

“I want to apologize,” Kururi started as they were curled up against one another, laying in bed. “I realize I overreacted and was unnecessarily mean to you.”

“It’s fine,” Aoba told her, “I shouldn’t have pressed you so much, or reacted how I did. If you don’t want to get a dog, that’s your business.”

“No, it’s,” Kururi sighed, drawing small circles and patterns on Aoba’s arm. “It’s stupid.”

“I mean, you might think it is,” Aoba said, “but it’s still a reason. If you want to share, I’m willing to listen.”

“It’s just,” And Kururi sniffled, and Aoba instantly started patting her head, uncertain how to react. Kururi didn’t cry often, and as a result Aoba wasn’t quite sure how to comfort her when she did. “I know it’s stupid, but Iza-nii’s _terrified_ of dogs, and if _we_  have a dog, then he’ll never visit us whenever he’s ready to come back.”

 _Oh._  Well, that explained quite a bit…

“And, and, Mairu’s fine with a dog because she thinks Iza-nii deserves it, being gone so long,” Kururi continued, rambling, like a damn had broken. Aoba kept awkwardly patting her head, not sure if he should say something, or if he should just let her let it all out. “But what if we’re waiting for nothing, waiting for Iza-nii to come back and he’s, he’s just been dead this whole time and nobody ever knew? His body just tossed in the bay or some river some where, no one knowing if he’s dead or not, no one _caring.”_

Well, Aoba’s pretty sure that when that night went down, no one did care about what happened to Izaya or not. Obviously, he wasn’t going to say that to Kururi, when it was pretty obvious that she did care about what happened to her brother.

“I’m sure your brother’s fine, Kuru,” Aoba lied, hugging her closer and rubbing her back. “Nothing can kill your brother, he’s always been like a cockroach - chop off his head and he can still live even after.” Okay, so that might have been the wrong thing to say, but he could feel a subtle shift in Kururi’s breathing, changing from hitching sobs to a shuffle of laughter. He took it as a sign to keep going.

“I mean, hell, there could be nuclear fallout that kills the entirety of Japan, and the only person left to represent us would be your brother, crawling out of whatever bunker he’s been hiding in for the past five years.”

“That’s a lie,” Kururi contradicted him, shuffling in his hold, reaching her hand up to wipe away the tears on her face. Laughter was present in her voice though, so Aoba took that as a positive thing. “Everyone knows he’s hiding in a hole at the bottom of some ditch somewhere.”

“Ah, I forgot about that,” Aoba said. “He doesn’t even need protective covering. He probably could survive a fallout just standing in the middle of the street.”

“He’d stand in the street and the fallout wouldn’t even affect anyone, it’d see him and think it couldn’t compare,” Kururi replied, laughing. “That’d be Iza-nii for you.”

They fell silent after that, neither willing to say anything to break the silence. It was maybe a half hour, an hour later, before Kururi broke it.

“I’m sorry,” Kururi said once more, not meeting Aoba’s eyes. “I know this is all stupid.”

“You’re wrong,” Aoba shook his head, holding Kururi tighter. “Nothing you do or say is ever stupid.”

Whether it’s about her brother, not wanting a dog, Aoba didn’t care. He never thought it was stupid.

Not when it came to Kururi.

* * *

 


End file.
